7 1 8 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



cause serious and notable economic loss. As in cattle and 

 other mammalia, the storms of infection attract the atten- 

 tion, though if the question is carefully studied, there is 

 seen to be far greater loss in the aggregate constantly oc- 

 curring in one individual after another. One ewe expels 

 unseen a small fetus or embryo ; another expels at full term 

 a cadaver w^hich has just died ; another gives birth to a weak 

 lamb which succumbs to septicemia, dysentery or arthritis, 

 or the ewe has retained fetal membranes. These are passed 

 over as "accidents" in the path of reproduction and the 

 breeder fails to measure the endless economic leak which is 

 occurring in his herd and which is very important if once 

 placed in correct view. When the infection attains high 

 virulence and a storm breaks, the breeder takes alarm, al- 

 though perhaps the same infection has long been at work 

 in his herd, causing important losses while gathering mo- 

 mentum to break finally with fury. 



As in cattle, so in sheep, the most striking result of genital 

 infection is the observed expulsion of a fetal cadaver — abor- 

 tion. In the earlier stages of pregnancy the expulsion of a 

 fetal cadaver is not readily recognized. The embryo is 

 very small compared to the bovine embryo, and retained 

 chorion and amnion is not common, but the fetal placentae 

 break away from the chorion and are often^ retained within 

 the cotyledonal chalice of the uterus. The wool obscures the 

 vulva and any moderate soiling of it. When a large fetal 

 cadaver is expelled, it is apt to be observed and, if evidently 

 immature, is characterized as abortion; if expelled at ap- 

 proximately full term, it is regarded merely as "a dead lamb" 

 without significance. If the observed expulsions of fetal 

 cadavers become numerous as a result of the same infec- 

 tions, "contagious abortion" is diagnosed. 



The diseases of the testes, epididymes, and glands about 

 the pelvic urethra of the ram have not been studied. The 

 same is true of the ovaries and oviducts of the ewe. The 

 principal attention has been paid to the changes going on 

 within the uterine cavity resulting in the death and expul- 

 sion of the fetus. 



